The computer made a huge improvement. Have you ever written and edited a significant document with pencil and paper?

The bigger point is that it's very easy to point to huge improvements computers have made or to new things computers enable (e.g. collaborative document editing with many authors around the globe and version control). It's much harder to point to things that crypto improves or enables - except for illicit activities.

I think the bigger point is that when computers were first introduced, there was a lot of similar pushback to what we see today. The answer is that they don't _directly_ solve a pressing problem, but are a canvas for others to come and use as a new paradigm to solve problems using its technology. Blockchain by itself is a canvas, and anyone can come and create applications on top of it that could solve real problems. Computers and the web are similar in this regard.

> Have you ever written and edited a significant document with pencil and paper?

I'm from 1979, so yes. Now that you mention it, before writing a huge document, you had to think up front what you were going to write and how to write it.

So now that I think about it, the computer is actually a step backwards in some way.

Yeah. Totally didn't solve anything. And in fact, it hurts the environment more. Terribly database, this blockchain thing.

I'll stick with my non-raid, not-backed-up, sqlite file on my 10yo hard drive, please and thank you. (Err.. I mean piece of paper)